Is health insurance the same thing as healthcare?

Answer:
No. The terms health insurance and healthcare

are often used interchangeably but they have two different meanings. Healthcare refers to the products and medical services used for preventing, treating, and managing illness and injuries. Health insurance is a financial tool used to pay for healthcare.

For example, even if you don’t have health insurance, you still have access to healthcare. You can go to a doctor’s office and receive treatment. You can have medical tests run. You can get fitted with a pacemaker. You can have surgery. You can be prescribed drugs. However, you will need to find a way to pay the doctor, the lab, the pacemaker supplier, the surgeon, the hospital, the anesthesiologist, and the pharmacist.

Because healthcare is so expensive, paying for all of these medical products and services is beyond the means of most people. Instead of paying out of pocket, most people rely on health insurance. They pay the premiums and co-pays and the health insurance pays the rest of the covered expenses according to the terms of the health insurance policy.


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